National camp held in Lahore despite dengue fever

Lahore, Oct 6: Despite the dengue fever outbreak in Lahore, Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to hold the short conditioning camp of the UAE-bound Pakistan squad from October 10 to 13 with extraordinary measures put in place to ensure their well being.

A source in the board said that there was genuine concern over the dengue fever outbreak even among the players but the PCB has decided to hold the camp at the National Cricket Academy after consulting its medical panel and team management.

"There is some concern even among the players but the doctors on the medical panel have told the board that if proper preventive steps are taken during the camp there is nothing to panic about as dengue fever can happen anytime anywhere in Pakistan and is not limited to just Lahore," the source said.

He said the team management had also agreed with the medical panel but in view of the dengue fever outbreak it was decided to skip the training sessions held early morning or around sunset.

Medical experts believe that the mosquitoes, whose sting results in the dengue fever, are most visible during early morning and sunset times.

"The training sessions during these two times will now be held at the indoor school and training sessions and nets would be held during the afternoon," another source said.

The PCB was forced to relocate its national Twenty20 Championship recently from Lahore to Karachi on the directives of President Asif Zardari, due to the dengue fever outbreak here.

Soon after the national Twenty20 event was shifted to Karachi, some other sporting events were also moved out of Lahore or postponed.

The Pakistan team will have the short conditioning camp under the supervision of interim coach Mohsin Khan and manager Colonel Naushad Ali.